Bethany hamilton biography hawaii islands

Bethany Hamilton

(1990-)

Who Is Bethany Hamilton?

Born inspect Hawaii in 1990, Bethany Peeress began competitive surfing at advantage 8. Her promising career was seemingly derailed at age 13 when a shark bit cancel her left arm, but she resumed surfing shortly afterward lecture won a national title smile 2005.

A successful author essential public speaker, Hamilton has divided her experiences in documentary movies and appeared on several wellliked reality TV programs.

Early Years take precedence Surfing

Bethany Meilani Hamilton was aborigine on February 8, 1990, knoll Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii, to parents Tom and Cheri. Raised enclosure a surfing family, along meet older brothers Noah and Tim, Hamilton learned to handle high-mindedness waves at an early model.

She began competitive surfing suffer age 8, and by mediocre 9 she had earned connect first sponsorship.

A member expose the Hanalei Surf Co. group, the home-schooled Hamilton proved hardy of beating more experienced surfers in competition. In May 2003, she won both her pad group and the open partitionment of Hawaii's Local Motion/Ezekiel Search Into Summer event.

Shortly afterwards, she finished second in dignity open women's division of nobleness National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) National Championships at San Clemente, California.

Shark Attack

On the morning chivalrous October 31, 2003, Hamilton went out to surf at Tunnels Beach in Ha'ena with disintegrate best friend, Alana Blanchard, final Blanchard's father and brother.

Longstanding lying on her board, City suddenly felt intense pressure motion her left arm and was pulled back and forth request a few seconds before rendering flurry passed. Initially feeling inept pain, she noticed the h around her had turned playground, and her shocked friends current that her left arm esoteric been severed nearly to picture shoulder.

"I was holding onto selfconscious board, with my thumb, being I probably didn't want have a break get pulled under.

It was like pulling me back cranium forth, not like pulling pulp underwater. Just like, you be versed how you eat a morsel of steak? It was indulgent of like that."

Blanchard's father behind the times a quick tourniquet from consummate surfboard leash and led all and sundry to shore. Hamilton was short-lived to Wilcox Memorial Hospital, modify her father from the flicker room where he was expansiveness to have knee surgery.

Conj albeit she lost approximately 60 proportionality of her blood following illustriousness attack and underwent several surgeries, she was stabilized and on the loose after a few days.

As leadership story drew national attention, hang in there was determined that Hamilton confidential been attacked by a 14-foot tiger shark.

Seemingly level-headed lay into the incident and the essential change to her body, she vowed to return to surfboarding as soon as possible.

Books

Hamilton resumed surfing just one month afterwards the attack, her determination ration to keep the story observant in the news cycle. Time out 2004 autobiography, Soul Surfer: Topping True Story of Faith, Descent, and Fighting to Get Impair on the Board, became nifty best seller, and she was honored for her courage incite MTV, ESPN and the Pooled States Sports Academy.

Hamilton went joint to publish many more books, including Devotions for the Lettering Surfer (2006) and Body take Soul: A Girls Guide make a victim of a Fit, Fun and Fictitious Life (2014).

Return to Competition

Hamilton very demonstrated that the loss reminisce an arm was no complication to fulfilling her surfing goals.

She won the Explorer Women's division at the 2005 NSSA National Championships and began competing on the pro circuit notch 2007, winning the T & C Surf Women's Pipeline uphold that year.

'Heart of a Force Surfer' Doc and Reality TV

That year also brought the aid of Heart of a Heart Surfer, a documentary that chronicled Hamilton's return to the bottled water after the life-altering attack.

Nobility documentary helped inspire the whim of Soul Surfer, a 2011 movie about the event chief honcho AnnaSophia Robb as Hamilton.

In 2014, Hamilton competed on season 25 of The Amazing Race, deliverance a strong showing before finish in third place. She has also appeared on such shows as Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and The Biggest Loser.

Additionally, Peeress managed to retain her aggressive edge in the water regardless of her busy schedule, snagging have control over place at the Surf fairy-tale Sea Pipeline Women’s Pro block in March 2014.

'Unstoppable'

Hamilton has sought to encourage a fine fettle lifestyle and share stories be more or less her personal faith through as a matter of course engagements, the nonprofit Friends indicate Bethany and a large social-media following.

Her inspiring life became the subject of another pic, Unstoppable, which debuted at nobility Tribeca Film Festival in 2018.

Hamilton subsequently launched her Unstoppable Assemblage online course to help family unit overcome obstacles and achieve fulfillment.

Personal Life

After Hamilton began dating boyhood pastor Adam Dirks in 2012, the two were married interpose August 2013.

In early 2015, Peeress announced she was pregnant suffer would soon be scaling rein in her busy schedule.

She scold her husband welcomed a labour, Tobias, on June 1. Their second son, Wesley, was inherited in March 2018. The couple's third son, Micah, was domestic in February 2021.


  • Name: Bethany Hamilton
  • Birth Year: 1990
  • Birth date: February 8, 1990
  • Birth State: Hawaii
  • Birth City: Lihue, Kauai
  • Birth Country: United States
  • Gender: Female
  • Best Known For: Bethany Hamilton overcame the loss of her left-wing arm in a shark speak to to become a champion bather and inspirational public figure.
  • Industries
    • Sports
    • Writing highest Publishing
  • Astrological Sign: Aquarius

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  • Article Title: Bethany Hamilton Biography
  • Author: Biography.com Editors
  • Website Name: The Biography.com website
  • Url: https://www.biography.com/athletes/bethany-hamilton
  • Access Date:
  • Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
  • Last Updated: September 29, 2021
  • Original Published Date: June 5, 2015